Tracy Stevens is a character featured on For All Mankind.[1] Tracy is one of the four women selected as astronaut for the Apollo program.
Her first mission in space is Apollo 25. During the repair EVA performed on the Apollo 24 S-IVB, Apollo 24 astronaut Harrison Liu was killed and Apollo 25 commander Molly Cobb left stranded in space. Tracy Stevens managed to pilot Apollo 25 to rendezvous with Molly Cobb and retrieve her.
History
Meeting Gordo
When Gordo Stevens gets off a plane and greets his coworkers, he bumps into Tracy, who he had met earlier. He asks her why she is there, and she tells him she wanted to learn how to fly. She asks him for instructors, and he takes her flying with him in order to teach her, but she quickly shows a lot of talent for flying, later revealing she had been flying for 745 hours. After landing, both of them kiss.
Candidate for astronaut work
When Deke told Gordo and Tracy he wanted Tracy to join NASA as an ASCAT, Gordo said they would need to discuss it in private, but Tracy did not wait and accepted, and shook Deke's hand. Gordo got excited for Tracy, but she only asked if he really was okay with it, which Gordo confirmed, revealing that Deke had also given him a spot on Apollo 15.
Tracy joined the other 19 candidates in order to start her training
On January 6, 1970, Tracy walked into NASA and walked into the room where all other 19 candidates were. She was joined by Danielle Poole, while Molly Cobb was joined by Patty Doyle, whom she told she was glad would be behind her like in the old days, which made Doyle smile. Deke walked in and introduced himself, telling them this would be a vigorous training, during which he expected a lot less than the 20 candidates to stay. He explained they would be graded as they went along, which included pilot performance, academics, character, and motivation. He would be posting results every so often; if their names were not on the list, they were cut from the program.
The women talked while they waited to see Janice fly. Cobb mentioned the jet she was flying had too much speed, which was shown to be true when Janice did not land correctly. Next was Tracy's turn: During her flight, Ed was helping guide her and instructed her on how to land. In the end, Tracy landed the jet smoothly, which Deke liked.
Later, Tracy picked up her kids from Karen's home. While she was there, Karen congratulated her on making it through the first cut. Tracy gave Ed credit for this achievement, and Karen mentioned she hoped Ed would still be focused enough for Apollo 15.
Later, while checking the list, Janice found out she was cut, while both Cobb and Doyle got in. When it was Tracy's turn to check the list, she found she was in the 12th position, which was last. While Tracy and the rest of the women talked at Outpost, Tracy mentioned she had not flown anything too glamorous, and had not really considered flying as a career before. The conversation shifted to them talking about Molly and Patty. They agreed Patty was nice, but thought Molly would be more encouraging.
Molly, Tracy, and Danielle in simulator training.
During a simulator, Tracy was assigned with Danielle and Molly. There, Tracy yawned while Danielle responded to a question. Molly snapped her fingers at Tracy, and told her to be ready; when it was Tracy's turn, she was told to open all four helium iso valves, which she could not find until told by Molly.
Inside the simulator, Molly understood when there was a master caution alarm since primary guidance had failed, recognizing they needed to do it manually. Tracy was confused, but Molly told her to take manual control, guiding her on what to do. However, Tracy did not want to listen to Molly and ended up "killing" them in the simulation. Molly was annoyed at this, and reminded her that a lot of exceptions had been made for her, so she did not see a reason to complain about anything, especially since she did not see why she had still made the cut up until then.
When Tracy thought about quitting the program, she and Gordo got into a heated argument.
At home, Tracy realized Molly was right and told Gordo it was a joke for her to still be in the program. However, Gordo supported her by saying she had a real chance, and had been told that her jet scores had been among the highest in the class. Gordo told her to see the test program through, but Tracy said she should have been cut weeks ago, but Shorty wanted a space couple. When the argument started heating up, Gordo told Tracy to have guts, but Tracy retaliated by asking if he really thought she was the one with no guts. She told him to get out of the house while throwing things at him.
At desert survival training, Deke told them it was not a teamwork-building assignment, and they would each be timed and graded on their individual performances. They each had a walkie-talkie, but if they used it, they would immediately fail the must-pass test.
At one point, Tracy dropped her water while Molly made it to the finish line in ten hours and twelve minutes. She was happy with being first, until she found out Patty had come first.
At one point, Tracy found Ellen and stopped to help her.
While Tracy walked, she found Ellen who had fallen and hurt her foot, however, she mentioned she could not use the walkie-talkie. Tracy helped her and told her it was probably a bad sprain. In order to help with the sun, Tracy covered up with Ellen and got to know her a little better in the process, finding out Ellen's family owned Cavalier Airlines.
After a while, Deke called out through his walkie-talkie, and told all remaining candidates to radio their approximate location. Since he got no response, he radioed again, but was responded by Tracy, who told him he did not need to shout. Paramedics received Ellen, and Tracy was given water while Deke reminded her it was not a team exercise: Ellen should have radioed and Tracy should not have stopped to help her, but Tracy told him that she was not going to leave her behind, and he would not have done it either.
When Deke considered "guts" not to be enough for the program, he recommended Tracy to drop out from the program.
Deke called Tracy to his office, where he told her he had a lot of respect for what she had done at the desert training. She mentioned it was nothing, but Deke told her he had gone through the same training on Mercury. He told her that what is coming is dangerous stuff, and that he did not think she had the skill set, and told her she should be proud of what she has done. However, he also said he would not cut her, but recommended she withdraw from the program, but she told him she would not drop out.
On day 200 of the program, Ed introduced the five remaining candidates to the LEM simulator, which would emulate the flight dynamics of the lunar module spacecraft. He told them it was sort of like a helicopter, with a few distinctions. He told them that the activity for that day would be to perform basic takeoff and landing maneuvers with each of them flying an altitude of 300 feet, hover 30 seconds, execute a 360 clockwise spin, hover for another 30 seconds, and land on a target.
Tracy's turn was first, so she got in, and started flying, while Gordo drove his car. As he drove, he saw a fire at NASA and drove back only to see firefighters swarming the area. Ed intercepted him, and told him she was fine. Tracy saw Gordo and hugged him, telling him that Patty had crashed.
Selected as an astronaut
After the death of Patty Doyle, Molly Cobb sits at the bar in Outpost Tavern, where she is joined by Ellen Wilson, Tracy, and Danielle Poole, who tell her she missed the service. They try comforting her, as Pam serves drinks for the women, but Molly does not say a word until she mentions that Patty should have ejected, and that the program would probably be canceled.
Tracy gets home and finds Gordo sleeping with their kids. They discuss whether or not Tracy is doing the right thing, and Gordo tells her that their children think the world of her due to her training to be an astronaut. They both kiss and tell each other they love one another.
Deke presents all of the female astronauts to the press.
On October 27, 1970, Thomas is confused as to who called a press conference. At the conference, Deke announces that Danielle, Ellen, Molly, and Tracy were the first women to complete all of NASA's required astronaut training. He introduces each of them, and shakes their hand, while the press claps in celebration. Deke goes to Thomas, who tells him he had not authorized what he had done. Deke was aware of this, and reminded him that he was the one who decided who goes up, and when. Thomas congratulated him on making Nixon's shitlist.
At home, Gordo saw a gift baskets sent to Tracy, and opened a bottle. Tracy told him that dinner was in half an hour, and that Fred and Susie would be there soon. Gordo apologized, and told her that a few things had come up, and Tracy realized he was drunk, realizing he was not going to let her enjoy her accomplishments. Gordo, once again apologized, and told her that Deke had taken him off 15, replacing him with Molly Cobb. Tracy comforted him, and told him she could tell Sheila to go home, but Gordo told her that they were going to celebrate her for becoming an astronaut. He also told her they were going to be getting her a new corvette, but she told him that they would be sending her away the next week for maybe a week or more. Gordo did not like that, feeling they should discuss that first, but Tracy told him that he knew that she needed to go where they sent her.
On the day of the Apollo 15 launch, Gordo asked Tracy where she had been the past night, but Tracy told him she had unplugged the phone in order to sleep right, but Gordo asked what would have happened if there had been an emergency with their kids and she told him that BASEOPs can get to her at any time. He asked her when she would return, and she mentioned that maybe a few days, and she might go out to celebrate in the night. Gordo replied by saying that he thought she might be worried about being a bad mother. She flushed the toilet, and turned on the shower, prompting Gordo to ask what had happened. She pretended nothing had happened, and hung up on him.
At Jamestown, Gordo was talking to Tracy, who mentioned she had put down a deposit on an apartment, but had not told their children anything. Gordo asked Tracy why she would not move in to the apartment, but Tracy refused, because she did not want Gordo and Sheila to keep the house to themselves.
Later, Tracy gets to the Baldwin home, where she finds out she is not really into her kid’s life, but Karen assures her she has it covered. She talked to Danny for a while, but then had to leave since she had an early day the next day.
Helping Karen
Tracy believed Gordo had been with another woman.
Gordo greets Tracy and tells her that work had been good that day. She tells him he is a son of a bitch, asking where he had really been. She assumes that he had been with a lady, and he tells her that he was seeing a psychiatrist. She tells him that the shit he came up with to save his ass was unbelievable, but he shows her the card, which shocks her. He said he started talking to the doctor because he needed to talk to someone. Tracy asked him what had happened to him on the moon, but he says that nothing had happened. Tracy picks up the phone and tells Karen she would be with her as soon as she could.
Karen told Tracy that Shane's situation as very serious.
Karen is waiting at the hospital and is joined by Tracy, telling her that Shane was in surgery and explained what had happened. Tracy asks Karen if she wants her to talk to the doctor, but Karen tells her that Shane would be fine. Tracy tells her what she brought and looks at her friend, worried.
The next morning, Karen is joined by Tracy, who tells her she would not leave. The doctor walks in and tells them that he usually asks for both parents to be present, but made an exception. He told her that due to the amount of time passed between Shane's accident and his arrival to the ER, he had lost a lot of oxygen in his brain, so he was now brain-dead, which meant that his brain was no longer functioning even though his heart was. He tells Karen that it was extremely unlikely that Shane would recover from the event, but she compared Shane living to Ed's being on the moon. She refuses to listen to the doctor and wanted to ask for a second opinion. She told Karen that she wanted NASA's best neurologist, so Tracy started calling Deke while Karen went to see Shane.
When Deke asked Karen, she said that it was not an option since it was possible that Shane could live. Deke asked her once again if she was sure, but Karen refused to do so until something else happened. Deke said goodbye and told her that he would bring Ed home. Tracy hugged Karen in order to comfort her while Deke said goodbye to his wife as well, who was excited for him to go to the moon.
Karen was walking in the hospital and was joined by a reporter who wanted to ask her questions, but Tracy grabbed the man and shoved him away. Tracy told Karen that it was time for her call with Ed, and she agreed. Karen asked Marge to look after Shane and left with Tracy to get ready.
Driving back with Tracy, Karen asks her friend if she had just done something unforgiveable, but Tracy mentions that she did what she had to and told her to just drive.
Ed walks to the mining site as Karen walks through the hospital. She sees Tracy and NASA's doctor waiting for her; he told her that there was nothing else he could do for Shane. Ed grabbed the Soviet monitoring device and destroyed it filled with rage. Karen walked into Shane's hospital room and started crying.
Tracy accompanied Karen to her house and comforted her friend. While they were inside, Karen told Tracy that she was starting with the funeral arrangements since Ed wanted to be buried with the navy, but only qualified for interment if he made flag rank and there was nothing there for children. Tracy told Karen that only a few hours had passed since Shane's death, but Karen asked her to cry somewhere else.
The crew of Apollo 25 was welcomed back by everyone at mission control.
Tracy and Molly walked back into mission control and were celebrated by everybody. When Gordo saw Tracy he ran up to her and kissed her. Molly told them to get a room, and then told everybody to settle down. She went to Margo, who tried to apologize by saying that she had to consider the safety of two astronauts over just her, but Molly told her that she had done the right thing and was not what she wanted to talk about. She proceeded to tell Margo that she thought that when their ship slammed into the side of 24 it may have knocked their antenna loose, which was the cause of their communication problems, but their short-rage radio might still be working. Margo thanked Molly, and Gordo told Tracy that she was not in uniform since she needed to wear gold. He gave her his pin, and she cried tears of joy.
Karen and Pam walked in to JSC, where she saw Larry. Karen hugged Tracy and asked her where everybody was at. She told Tracy that she was proud of her and invited Pam to sit next to her.
1983
Karen worked the bar at Outpost, while Ed mentioned that that Tracy would be on television. On the program, Tracy greets the host and tells him that she had returned from being in Rio and Aruba, also stopping at Vegas before returning. The host asks her if she has a new ring and she tells him that it is a ring Sam Cleveland had given her when they got married in Vegas.